# How were the pyramids in Egypt built? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 7, 2014, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559 "2014-12-07T10:40:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 83
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1642 "2015-05-13T15:53:07Z")
> [@cladking](#): > > The next time an Egyptologist tells you they used ramps just ask him why the word ramp isn’t even attested from the great pyramid building age. When he tells you they didn’t write about building these enormous tombs ask him why there’s no direct evidence of any sort that they were tombs. Ask him to define even one of the sceptres and what magic it performed. These guys can yack and yack but you’ll never get a straight answer. Nope, what you demonstrated here is that you have even codified and put in your own bibliography the steps you do on how to move the goal posts. Just another form of “raising the bar” or “Special pleading”, it is a form of a fallacious argument. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1643 "2015-05-13T15:53:28Z")
> [@cladking](#): > > Most of the purposes were really quite mundane. It’s probably best to think of them as monuments to the ingenuity and industriousness of nature/ human beings. ‘they built it to prove they could build it’ ??? thats what youve got? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1644 "2015-05-13T16:12:58Z")
> [@cladking](#): > > I haven’t had the chance but would love to. A lot of people who don’t agree with Egyptology get the bums rush out of the Cairo Airport so I’d want permission before going. > > All I have is the ben ben stone in the Sphinx Temple; > > [http://www.egyptiandawn.info/images/plates/large/7-62sup.jpg](http://www.egyptiandawn.info/images/plates/large/7-62sup.jpg) :rolleyes: Yeah, sure, a Ben Ben stone. Maybe if you squint, turned it upside down, looked at it funny and during an eclipse it would look like that. It looked more plausible when Biblioteca Pleyades posted an article claiming that the Ben Ben stone actually looked like an Apollo capsule and that was evidence of the ancient aliens. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1645 "2015-05-13T16:16:03Z")
> [@cladking](#): > > There’s a huge amount of information in the PT if you can understand it. In a vacuum this information would be difficult to deduce but there is no vacuum and the ruins are still in evidence still giving silent testimony to how the pyramids were really built. These are the words of nature that are in ruins compared to the words of nature that have been redacted and carved in stone at various little tiny pyramid sites. > > They fit together like a hand in a glove just as the words themselves are internally consistent and describe the pyramid steps as the five fingers of the earth. > > It all fits together not through confirmation bias as is apparent but rather because it reflects the reality which is difficult to see from our perspective of omniscience. I’m not sure you understand it. Your interpretation is, after all (and no matter what you consider it), at most, just another interpretation – and to me, it just sounds like a guess. Your attempting to interpret a translation of a transcription of an ancient text. There’s no “literal” reading of such a document – it’s _always_ interpretation. ---
**Author:** ![conway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@conway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/conway)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1646 "2015-05-13T16:18:01Z")
I never really thought about this one way or the other, but now I’m pretty convinced they used ramps. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1647 "2015-05-13T16:20:33Z")
> [@cladking](#): > > The problem is that few people realize just how unsupported Egyptological beliefs really are. If you ask for support not one of them can even cite the relevant evidence that purportedly explains the belief; instead they produce a bibliography and tell you you’ll need to read all those books to possibly understand. Of course, this actually describes your nonsense quite well: The problem is that most people realize just how unsupported cladking’s imagined beliefs really are. If you ask for support not once can he even cite the relevant evidence that purportedly explains his belief; instead he imagines that he is the only human in history to “correctly” read one specific ancient document that he believes sets ancient Egyptians apart from all other humans in having no religious beliefs and a science for which there is no evidence. - ::: shrug :::\* (I do wish, however that you would stop libeling whoever it is that you call “Egyptologists” with your rampant claims that they “say” this or “believe” that when you cannot point to a single “Egyptologist” who has actually said any of the things you ascribe to them. While I can feel some sympathy for you over your nonsense beliefs, your libel of the unnamed (and probably imaginary) “Egyptologists” moves you into the realm of Conspiracy Theorist which is a category of person who not only does not deserve compassion, but invites scorn.) ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1648 "2015-05-13T16:37:15Z")
> [@simster](#): > > ‘they built it to prove they could build it’ ??? > > thats what youve got? That’s the reason we went to the moon. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1649 "2015-05-13T16:48:53Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Apparently they don’t even care if you’re going there to make a porn film. Oooooh, I gotta ask. Not because I doubt you, but because it has to be a helluva story: Cite? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1650 "2015-05-13T17:01:19Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Oooooh, I gotta ask. Not because I doubt you, but because it has to be a helluva story: Cite? Not really all that great a story. NSFW [Porno at Pyramids](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/10/porno-at-pyramids_n_6822358.html) ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1651 "2015-05-13T17:21:46Z")
> [@cladking](#): > > Most of the purposes were really quite mundane. It’s probably best to think of them as monuments to the ingenuity and industriousness of nature/ human beings. So it’s ridiculous to think of the pyramid-builders spending the time and resources to build giant memorials for dead kings, but it’s not ridiculous to think they spent the time and resources to build giant memorials to just how pimpin’ their civilization was? ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1652 "2015-05-13T17:26:53Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > That’s the reason we went to the moon. and the reason we do many things - but its usually stated as such. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1653 "2015-05-13T17:30:06Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Not really all that great a story. > > NSFW > > [Porno at Pyramids](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/10/porno-at-pyramids_n_6822358.html) ramps and geysers! ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1654 "2015-05-13T19:15:12Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > So it’s ridiculous to think of the pyramid-builders spending the time and resources to build giant memorials for dead kings, but it’s not ridiculous to think they spent the time and resources to build giant memorials to just how pimpin’ their civilization was? > [@JFK Never](#): > > We choose to build the pyramids. We choose to build the pyramids in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard … ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1655 "2015-05-13T19:19:36Z")
Is building cathedrals ridiculous, **cladking**? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1656 "2015-05-13T20:42:08Z")
> [@cladking](#): > > I think I owe the thread a couple posts but lack the time right now. > > -later. I am supremely confident the board will be happy to comp you. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1657 "2015-05-13T21:29:58Z")
**74westy** - Not sure I understand your post. I was pointing out **cladking** ’s inconsistency in saying that it is ludicrous to imagine the pyramid-builders doing all that work for a tomb, then claiming that they did it as a monument “to the ingenuity and industriousness of nature/ human beings.” Both are, IMO, perfectly plausible reasons for building the pyramids - humans have done stranger things for odder reasons; but **cladking** seems to think that one is ridiculous and the other not. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1658 "2015-05-13T21:39:25Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > **74westy** - Not sure I understand your post. It’s a parody of JFK’s quote about going to the moon. In other words, just a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1659 "2015-05-13T21:50:04Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Is building cathedrals ridiculous, **cladking**? It would be if you tried to squirt them into place. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1660 "2015-05-13T21:55:46Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > It would be if you tried to squirt them into place. Today’s thread winner. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/1661 "2015-05-13T22:16:25Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > **74westy** - Not sure I understand your post. I was pointing out **cladking** ’s inconsistency in saying that it is ludicrous to imagine the pyramid-builders doing all that work for a tomb, then claiming that they did it as a monument “to the ingenuity and industriousness of nature/ human beings.” > > Both are, IMO, perfectly plausible reasons for building the pyramids - humans have done stranger things for odder reasons; but **cladking** seems to think that one is ridiculous and the other not. \*\*Telemark \*\*is right. I went for a cheap laugh but I didn’t have any problem with your post (aside from it being more thoughtful than mine.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559.md?page=82) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559.md?page=84)